The Beach Korean Style

I certainly didn't get to enjoy a California summer.  I didn't get to lounge around in a pool all day or spend my days at the beach getting a sweet tan.  No, none of that.  Koreans don't like the sun, and they dont really wear bathing suits.  Many time they will go swimming in their clothes.  I don't get it, at all.

There's a beach in Busan, Haeundae Beach.  Its super crowded and a bit daunting, but great for people watching.  The girls will strut their stuff in heels and a bikini.  Its pretty strange because most of the time girls won't show a whole lot of skin, especially their top half.  They have no problem wearing booty shorts, but to show cleavage and shoulders is a pretty big deal.  However, they seem to be loosening up a bit.



 This is just to give you an idea of what the beach looks like

I dont really know why theres a giant ship in the background.  It was a little weird.  And yes, there are thousands of umbrellas that stretch across the entire beach.  And you can't really swim in the ocean.  You can get in the water and play but there are life guards and buoys about 10-15 feet away from the shore.  You could probably still touch the bottom at these buoys.  However, Koreans can't swim.  Sometimes i even question the skills of the lifeguards.  She they keep it so no one will drown.  Kind of defeats the purpose of swimming.  Korean parents (i am assuming) think that learning to swim will take valuable time away from their child's studies.  Swimming doesn't lead to a valuable job like a doctor or lawyer.  So why waste the time learning.  They don't care for their child to be well rounded.  That term doesn't exist here.  They just want genius kids who will make a lot of money when they grow up.  

Back to the beach... best place to people watch, ever.  The End.

Day 6

Our final day was in Beijing.  We asked to have a free day.  No tour guide.  We figured we would just do it all on our own.  We wanted to see the Olympic Stadium, a panda, and an art museum.  We never got to an art museum.  However, we did go to the Beijing Zoo.  It was packed and again crowded and the people are super pushy.  But whats new!?  There's no such thing as a line in China.  You just shove your way to the front.

We took a cab to the zoo and saw these guys:

mama panda

baby panda

so cute!

We also saw rhinos and one hippo, leopard and many other animals.  Those were one I'd never seen before.  It was a huge zoo!!  

After lunch we went off to the Olympic Stadium!

This is not the stadium, its just a cool building.

The Bird's Nest

(Designed by Alex Weiwei who is now in jail because his art shows how corrupt the Chinese government it, which they don't seem to like.  Never the less, this building is still really cool)

The water cube.  A very creative and cool building.  Its looks like a block of water.  

passing the torch!  

(poor form)

So thats our last day.  Overall the trip was a success!  It was thoroughly exhausting, but worth every minute.  I cant say i will be rushing back to China. but i am very happy i was able to experience a new culture.  

Here are some random photos from the trip:

Forbidden City: Biggest Lion in all of China

In Xi'an: their city's mascot, the pomegranate

"I believe"

Cheese Lobster flavor and Fried Prawn Flavor

The funny thing is that we saw a tv commercial for these chips.  It was quite entertaining.  I can't imagine ever eating these.

Hot Pot

the bowl on the top is filled with boiling water and you cook your food in there.  This is a very popular way of eating in China.  

Ironically, her shirt read, " No pictures, please"

Yes, it's alcohol called a "bomb" and 7.00 yuan converts to about $1.16.  

This is my favorite thing.  He would crawl and shoot.  They were for sale.  

Day 5

I can't believe i'm still talking about China!  Whew.  Its almost over.  Today is the Li River Cruise.  We hopped on a big boat and meandered down a wide and shallow river for about four or five hours.  It was the best part of the trip.  We all sat on the top floor of the boat almost all day.  The best thing was that people only came out to the top when they announced we were passing a famous mountain.  So it was nice to be in nature and in (mostly) solitude.

This is Julie our tour guide in Guilin.  She was really funny and nice to be around.  

In China people gawk at you and take photos of you.  Its so annoying.  We kinda felt like celebrities, but not in a good way.  We just wanted to be left alone.  So we got fans so we could hide our faces when people take photos of us.  Im sure that just makes us more weird to look at, but at least our faces aren't with them forever.  People also come up to you and ask if they can take your picture with them.  Maybe i come off mean, or not very "American" because nobody wanted a photo with me, thankfully.  But my friends didn't have it so easy.

We were on a boat like the ones in the background.

There have been many books about this place and some movies filmed here.  if you ever saw the  movie "The Painted Veil," you were looking at Guilin.  

After the river cruise we went into town and rented some bikes.  Driving anywhere in China is hell.  Absolutely annoying and terrifying.  It is by the grace of God that anyone survives.  Thankfully this town is small and we went out into the countryside pretty quickly.  It was so nice to ride a bike again!  On our bike ride we stopped at a famous house that is over 300 years old.  The original owner of the house was a famous general.  The house is very moderately contemporary.  It has electricity for a fan, tv, refrigerator and some light.  But they seem to use it all very sparingly.  This is inside the house.  The guy in the middle is the great great great grandson of the general.  He was an incredibly happy man.  

They fed us watermelon and "small yellow skinned fruit."  It tasted like a sweet lemon but had the texture of a grape.  It was tasty, but a lot of work to eat it.  

This was sitting on the mantel.  The big fat jar has silk worms in it, and the other has some snakes.  Its an alcoholic beverage for men.  Its supposed to be like olden day viagra.  

The well, it works and was so refreshing.

The happy son had his bird do tricks for us.  His bird did ten flips in a row.  It was pretty impressive.  

The thing hanging on the wall is a fisherman's rain coat.  It is made of a plants and is hand woven.  Pretty impressive.

 On our bike ride we passed a small hotel called "Outside Inn."  I wondered if they had any idea how clever their name was.  

Further on our bike ride we found this guy.  He may have been tied up, but at least he got to escape from the crazy heat.

In this area of China you will see the bamboo boats floating along with a bunch of black birds on them.  The birds kinda look like blackish brown do-do birds.  The fisherman train the birds to to catch the fish for them.  They tie their neck so the bird won't swallow the fish.  At the end of the day the birds are rewarded with fish.  They are kinda like having a hunting dog, and totally treated like one.  It was pretty funny to see. 

Day 4

Today we came to Guilin.  This was my favorite city.  It was small, unbearably hot and full of beautiful landscapes.  Most of Guilin has thousands of limestone mountains all across it.  Due to it raining so much here, the limestone mountains begin to change shape, many look like animals and almost all of the mountains are named.  The Chinese have a very good imagination.

The first thing on our list was the Reed Flute Cave.  With all the limestone rock here, there are thousands of  caves.  This particular cave has been pretty civilized.  There are special lights everywhere and a cement path and stuff like that.  But it makes for some really cool effects.

This is the Christmas tree.  You can't see him, but Santa was there too.

The city skyline

The red curtain of the stage

Lunch time!

Theres a stuffed duck smothered in delicious spices baked inside bread.  Best. meal. in. so. long. 

I don't know why these kinds of recipes haven't caught on.  

 After our oh so tasty meal, we walked around Seven Star Park.  There are seven mountains in the park, and when you see them from above they look like the big dipper.  

This is Mr. Camel.  Mrs and baby are a little behind in another part of the city.  There is a plaque here because President gave a speech here one time.  So random.

Typical and traditional river boat in China.  

This place we are in is a cave that has 1,000 Buddahs.  Some are new and some are old.  And this part is special because if you can fit your hand in between the rocks you are supposed to get a scholarship or something.  Like your hand fits, fate will shower you with money.  I dunno, the Chinese are a little crazy sometimes.  

Close to the 1000 Buddha cave there is Fubo Hill.  Fubo Hill is named after a famous general.  We climbed the hill and it was probably about 100+ degrees outside.  Ive never sweat so much since i played AYSO soccer in the middle of the day in late summer.  So thats probably why i dont look terribly happy, but you can get a good idea of the landscape.  

This is inside our hotel.  It was totally groovy and decked out in 70's funk.  Like nasty pink colors, fuzzy chairs and nasty curtains.  Oh man, we both cracked up when we opened our hotel room door.

The woman in the middle is Monica.  She put together our tour and really wanted to meet us.  She is very kind and was wonderful.  She gave us all postcards and on mine she wrote "I hope we can be best friends forever."  Right on.  The next time i'm in China i might just call her up.

We all went to a ballet/acrobatic show.  It was awesome.  More acrobat than ballet.  They did a good job, the costumes were a little tacky, but that's Asia for you.  They totally made up for it with the way the people can contort their bodies.  Wow.  There were also some really young kids in it.  I was surprised to see such young kids, maybe like 8 years old.  If you ever go to China, go to an acrobatic show.  You'll be happy you did.